Just as Long as You're Near Me
by AClassyLady
Summary: Zim and Dib have been friends for years, bordering on becoming something more. But when an unexpected someone tried to get between the two, will they be able to pull through? Yaoi.
1. Default Chapter

Just as Long as You're Near Me By: Kichara Chapter One: Just Friends  
  
*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The wild cheers of so many people became one great shout of joy as navy blue hats were tossed into the air to join the cheers hanging there. Dib grinned to himself as he watched it all, his own hat still gripped tightly in one hand. A tap on his shoulder demanded his attention and he turned around, meeting the blue eyes of the person behind him.  
  
"Aren't you going to throw your hat in the air?" Zim asked, motioning to the item.  
  
"Dib shrugged with a smile. "Seems kind of stupid. How am I supposed to find it if I want to keep it as a souvenir if I throw it around?"  
  
The alien grinned. "Makes sense. I'm still trying to figure out what the purpose of tossing around an article of clothing while shouting like the earth monkey you are is."  
  
Dib snorted, giving him a slight push and started walking off, away from the crowd and with the alien close behind. "It's just tradition that humans usually have once they finish skool and attend their graduation ceremony."  
  
"And you didn't do it."  
  
"Um. no." Dib stopped under the shade of a tree, laughing as he realized he was defending something that he thought was stupid to begin with. "Guess not." He sat down, back against the tree's trunk and looked up at the bright blue sky that peeked through the leaves. "Damn, it's a nice day out for this."  
  
Zim nodded, sitting down in the grass next to him. "Good thing. I wouldn't have come to an outdoor occasion if it was going to rain."  
  
"Well, I'm glad you came. Thanks. I know you thought it was really stupid and didn't wanna come, but.thanks for coming with me." He smiled in gratitude and Zim returned the favor, nodding in understanding. Gaz had had an interview for a college upstate and hadn't been able to come because of it and Dib's father had been too busy, of course.  
  
The ex-Invader sighed, picking at the soft grass. It really wasn't fair, this whole thing was really important to Dib, and there hadn't been anyone to share it with him. "Yeah, you should be grateful." He growled, although the tone was all bark and no bite (and the both of them knew it.). 'I thought only girl humans wore these."  
  
Dib sighed, rolling his eyes for the umpteenth time when referring to the subject that day. "It's a robe, Zim. I told you that. It's OKAY for guys to wear them."  
  
Zim glared at him thoughtfully, one eye squinting at the human. "You're SURE?"  
  
"Actually." Dib looked down at the dark blue folds of them outfit and his lips curled up into a little smile. "Not really. It does really look like a dress, doesn't it?"  
  
It was Zim's turn to roll his eyes now and he leaned over, giving Dib a friendly shove. "Stupid."  
  
The young man fell over with a yelp of protest, but instead of getting up; he lay there, laughing genuinely. 'I sure as hell wouldn't wear it out into public." He gasped out, picturing himself walking around in a grocery store in the robes.  
  
Zim watched the other quietly, a soft smile forming on his lips. "You're certainly in a good mood." He remarked after a long moment of watching the human giggle to himself as he rolled around on the ground.  
  
Dib sat up, a huge smile plastered on his lips. "Guess so. It's such a good feeling though, y'know? I mean, we're all done with hi skool and we don't have to worry about it anymore. No more homework assignments."  
  
"No more boring labs." Zim added, nodding in agreement.  
  
"No more irritating teachers and of course."  
  
"No more cheerleads!" They exclaimed together, laughing again.  
  
Zim took up Dib's former spot against the tree trunk, smiling to himself. The boy's insatiably good mood had been catching up with him all day and he g=found it impossible to keep a big goofy grin off his own face. When they usually hung out with each other, it wasn't too hard to keep up a falsetto with a glaring face, but today. it was different, harder to keep up.  
  
Impossible, actually, he mused silently, smile still in place. Dib scooted over to sit next to him, back pressed against the tree's bark, shoulder lightly touching Zim's as he closed his eyes, still smiling. The Irken glanced over at Dib's peaceful face and his head titled to the side thoughtfully.  
  
"You know, Gaz would have come today, if she could have." Dib's eyes snapped open, amber orbs fixing on Zim's face.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"She wanted me to tell you that she really did want to come to see you today, but if she didn't go up for that interview, she wouldn't have any chance of getting into the college." Zim explained gently, carefully watching Dib's face. It looked relieved and still glowed with happiness.  
  
"Really?"  
  
A nod. "Really. You know how she is about talking to people directly, so I guess that's why she told me."  
  
"That's good to know. Thanks Zim." The paranormal obsessor leaned back against the tree, his eyes slipping shut again.  
  
Zim relaxed, watching the sky appear and disappear through the leaves above them as they swayed in the breeze. Wearing a dress and having to be around some of the humans he detested the most for more than three hours more than he had to today was worth this, this moment right now.  
  
He and Dib had been close friends for years now, back since middl skool. Or that was what they defined it as, Dib had pointed out, one day while they were reflected on past matters. At that time they were supposed "enemies", as they'd been since second grade. By that time, though, the warfare was more fun and games than either of them actually trying to kill each other. The hatred the two had smoldered over for years had slowly dissipated into a sort of weird friendship that neither of them would admit to. And they would have grand wars with monkeys and nerf guns under the pale moonlight nightly, rather than rapid vampire weasels and lasers cannons, both insisting that they were, indeed still enemies, and that they were still hating and trying to kill each other. Right.  
  
So it hadn't been all that hard to make the transfer to actual friends when Zim had gotten a call from Tallests one day while they were in eighth grade, telling him he was a failure as n Irken and that he was banished to Earth. The events from that day had been extremely blurry, but Zim could still remember the mind-fuzzed actions quite well. He'd sat on the cold floor before the blank screen for hours before somehow getting over to the elevator and going up to the house. From there, he'd trudged out of the house and somehow managed to end up at Dib's door. And it had gone on from there.  
  
Zim and Dib still kept up the "enemies" act from time to time, somewhat from pride, but mostly because it was fun. Zim didn't have anybody besides Dib and Gir, and it had been sort of weird, but...  
  
"HI!!!" A sudden voice squeaked and the boys both yelped in a unified surprise as the owner of the high-pitched voice squealed and landed in Dib's lap. "I brought you flowers!" Gir exclaimed, holding out a bouquet of carnations and shoving them into the boy's face.  
  
"Why would you get Dib flowers, Gir?" Zim asked slowly, eye narrowed in confusion.  
  
The Sir unit squealed, clinging to Dib happily. "Cuz he's soooooooooo pretty in his dress!!!! Congradamulations, Dib!!!"  
  
The human laughed, wrapping an arm around Gir's disguised body, the other taking the flowers from him. "Thanks Gir. But Zim's pretty too, right?"  
  
The deranged robot gasped loudly, turning to gaze at his master. "He IS!!!!!!" With that, he tackled the Irken with enough force to send him to the ground in a jumbled-up pile with his "advanced" Sir unit clung to his chest, nuzzling it.  
  
"Pain in the ass." Zim growled at Dib, eye twitching in irritation. The human only laughed in response, thoroughly enjoying the show.  
  
"Gasp!!" Gir sat up on Zim's chest, peering down at the Irken intently for a long moment. Then he jumped off him, grabbed one of his arms and pushed him forward with unnatural strength. Caught off guard, Zim fell forward, falling onto Dib. Time stopped as Dib stopped laughing, looking into his friend's eyes, which were as wide as his own.  
  
Gir clasped his tiny hands to his chest, head tilting to the side as he looked at the two. "There! Now you're pretty together! Awwww!!!!"  
  
"You...ah..." Zim managed out, trying to figure out what to say, where his nose would be only inches from Dib's.  
  
"Um..." Dib was just as speechless as they sat still for an unknown amount of time. And then they realized what position they were in.  
  
"Ack, sorry!" Zim scrambled to get off of the human, scooting back. He turned his attention to Gir, as he was unable to come up with anything coherent for Dib at the moment. "Gir, what are you doing?!"  
  
"Watchin' you guys be pretty." The insane robot replied, giggling happily.  
  
"Um, so..." Dib interjected, beating his brains for something to break the awkwardness. "You, uh, still wanna go play paintball tomorrow, right?"  
  
"Oh yes, yes. Paintball, good. Tomorrow, right. Masculine stuff, yes." Okay, so that coherent thing was being a bit slow in returning to him.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Y'know, I had a whole opening and closing notes for this chapter already done, and then my writing disc vanished on me, so I had to re-write this friggin' chapter and now I'm not awake enough to come up with anything worth reading. In fact, why the hell are you even reading this? Are you damaged? So yeah... and stuff.  
  
Marveling Over the Wonders of Country Crock and Fighting Sleep as Evil Rapid Vampire Weasels (God, I love that expression- I came up with it meself ^^) Like to Take My Underwear When I Do,  
  
Kichara  
  
P.S. Goose. 


	2. Trouble Rising

Just as Long as You're Near Me  
  
By: Kichara  
  
Chapter Two: Trouble Rising  
  
*~*~*~*~  
  
Okay, you all have the right to hate me! I can't believe how long it's taken me to get this out! But I really didn't like the original version, and then I never got a chance to fix it up, because I was working on my cosplaying costumes every free second, or just... working. Plus the fact that me not having easy access to a working computer doesn't really motivate me to get my butt working. And cosplaying....yeah. It rules a part of my life. ^^ And my next costume's gonna be Ren from Shaman King! Huzzah! Ren makes me happy. (If you don't know who he is, just do a qwik picture search on Google. Yes, I WILL be doing that hair. ^^)   
  
Anyhoo, enough of my prattle, here's my new chapter. I'm so unworthy of your praise. *grovels and stuff*  
  
*~*~*~*~  
  
Dib pulled a plain black shirt over his head, smoothing out the wrinkles. He sat on the bed to pull on his boots and lace them up, and with a quick check on the clock, (exactly 2:30) he cocked his head to the side, listening.  
  
*DING DONG* Grinning to himself, he grabbed his bookbag and hurried out of the room, treading quickly down the steps and past his father, who was actually home for once, sitting on the couch and reading over some laboratory notes. Dib opened the front door, smirking at Zim, who was standing on the front porch.   
  
"What's that look for?" The alien demanded, narrowing his eyes.   
  
"Do you HAVE to be always on time? Weirdo." Dib grinned, stepping outside and closing the door after him.  
  
"Look whose talking." Zim growled, poking the boy in the chest as they walked down the driveway and climbed into Dib's battered Gremlin.   
  
Neither of them noticed the figure stranding at the window, watching with narrowed eyes.   
  
*~*~*~*~  
  
Zim gripped the top of the window frame with one hand, leaning casually on his elbow as his eyes skimmed over the buildings they were rapidly passing as they drove through the heavily-populated downtown area. "Are we there yet?" He asked, making the effort to get his voice as annoying as possible.  
  
Dib rolled his eyes from his position behind the wheel. "No, not yet."  
  
The other boy glanced him, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You would say that even if we WERE there, wouldn't you?" A wide grin breaking out on Dib's face was his only answer. "You WOULD!"  
  
"Yup. In fact..." The car turned into a small parking lot. "We're here."   
  
"Have I told you recently that you're stupid?" Zim asked snappishly as he stepped out of the car, glaring at Dib over the car as the boy stood up at the same time.   
  
"That'll be the fifth time today. The 87th this week." The paranormalist answered as he bent over to grab his bookbag from the back, standing back up and shutting the car door with his hip.  
  
"Stupid smart ass." Zim growled as they walked inside the paintball office.   
  
"88th."  
  
*~*~*~*~  
  
"Alright, I'll see you later, okay?" Dib called out as Zim stepped out of the car. Zim's claw-like fingers gripped the open window's edge, leaning into the car.  
  
"Call me. I still can't figure out your inferior phone system."  
  
"Too advanced to figure out the basics?" His friend grinned widely, voice mocking the other playfully.  
  
"Something like that." The Irken smiled, standing up straight as Dib started the engine back up.  
  
"Call you tonight!" He half-shouted over the car's rattle, managing a small wave before he drove off. Zim stood for a long moment on the sidewalk, hands held in his pockets casually as he watched the car drive off, keeping his eyes fixed on the spot of the road that the car had last been visible on, just in case Dib was coming back. Then he turned on his heel, marching into the house, where he had to de-batch both the living room and Gir, who'd decided earlier that day to make them caterpillar muffins while Zim was out.   
  
Dib parked his car, (affectionately named Gizmo) and grabbed his knapsack from the back. He walked over the other side, where he struggled to roll the passenger window back up. It was always finicky about letting people put it back up, but Zim loved to drive with the windows down. After he'd wrestled it back into place, he locked the door and stood back, passing his gaze over the Gremlin, a true eighties' car that hadn't received a proper paint job since that decade. He'd tried to patch up the areas where the moss green paint was chipping off with spray paint. However, as Zim had been too happy to point out, the color wasn't the same and looked too flat, making it look entirely stupid. And then the alien had attempted to "fix" it with some pink spray paint, succeeding only in making it look like a punk car gone bad that had managed to escape from it's groupie owner's at a concert.   
  
He laughed to himself as he pocketed the keys, heading up the walkway and letting himself into the house.   
  
"Where have you been?" A voice demanded as he closed the door behind himself.   
  
Dib jumped, looking for the source of the voice. "Shit, Dad, you scared me!" Professor Membrane was sitting on the couch in the living room, the lights turned off. And since the sun had set over an hour ago, it was getting quite dark inside.   
  
"You didn't answer my question." His father demanded.  
  
He raised an eyebrow, one hand reaching up to adjust his bag that was slung over his shoulder. "I went out with Zim. What's it matter?"  
  
"You left HOURS ago. What did you do?"   
  
Dib shrugged. "We went to go play some paintball," he motioned to his paint splattered clothes to emphasize the point as he talked. "And then we got hungry, so we grabbed some food and then walked around by the lake for a while, and then I drove him home and came home."  
  
"You're sure?" His tone was suspicious and Dib's eyebrow narrowed further.  
  
"Uh, yeah..." He trailed off, regarding his father's shadowy figure almost suspiciously. "Anyway, what do you care? It's not like you ever wonder where I am any other time, anyway."  
  
"It's just that it's been brought to my attention that you've been spending an awful lot amount of time with that boy."  
  
"And---?" Dib prompted, wondering where the hell this was going.   
  
"And I think that he's a bad influence on you. Why don't you spend time with someone else?" The professor demanded, sounding exasperated.  
  
"Because I don't HAVE any other friends, Dad. Haven't you realized that by now?" The boy grit his teeth, getting irritated. "Oh yeah, and while we're on the subject of you ignoring me, I graduated the other day from Hi Skool, just so you know. And Zim was the only person who went with me, because Gaz had to go to a college interview and my own father was too busy to come watch me get my diploma that I worked for and passed with one of the highest' ranks in my class!"  
  
"So why didn't you have a girlfriend or something to go with you?!" Membrane's voice was starting to rise, matching his son's angry tone.   
  
A bitter snort of laughter escaped from Dib's lips. "Oh yeah, Dad. Because I'm SUCH a chick magnet." He rolled his eyes. "Like a girl would ever go out with me. They've been throwing spitballs at me since third grade!"  
  
"But you went there with that---'friend' of yours." He sneered.  
  
"Um---yeah?" Again, the boy was wondering where this was heading towards, especially after hearing the twinge in his father's speech. "Are you making a valid point somewhere?"   
  
"Why are you always with that boy?!" His father demanded almost shrilly, shocking his son.  
  
"Because he'd been my best friend for years, Dad. It's not like I have anyone else." Dib explained slowly, trying to sort everything out. "And why do you care?"  
  
"Because I don't want my son to be gay!!" He shouted. Dib took a step back, eyes wide and mouth dropping in surprise.  
  
"What---?"  
  
"You do everything with that boy, do just expect me to believe you aren't doing something disgusting and unnatural?!!" Dib shrunk, back touching the wall and he stepped back again as his father stood up.   
  
"But I haven't, we're just---" But it wasn't like he hadn't wanted something more---.  
  
It was as if his father had read his mind. His fists clenched and he took a step closer. "No son of mine is going to soil the family name with something that---THAT." He shuddered, as if the mere thought of it was painful.  
  
"I---I---" All speech had left him and Dib grabbed at the bag strap, desperate for something to twist his fingers around in comfort.  
  
"I've seen you two--- Always together, always close. It's NOT right! And I'm stopping this before you think you'll do it, if you haven't already, you---" He began stepping closer and at that moment, Dib bolted, pulling the door open and dashing through the lawn and down the street. His father stood in the doorway, mouth set in a fierce frown before slowly closing the door.  
  
Dib ran blindly, instinct directing him through the streets and to a very familiar cul-de-sac, past a group of lawn gnomes and pounding against Zim's door. The alien opened it almost immediately, shocked when he saw Dib there.  
  
"Dib, what' s---" Whatever the Irken was planning on saying was cut off as Dib fell against him, wrapping his arms around the other in a desperate hug as he began sobbing openly. Wide-eyed, Zim stood still for a long moment, then he reached out, closing the door and wrapping his arms around the trembling figure clinging to him. He managed to lead him over to the couch, letting Dib sob against his chest for hours, never asking anything, knowing that all he needed to do was hold the boy close and let him know without words that he was there.   
  
*~*~*~*~  
  
Whelp, there ya be, boyz and girlz! Tell me what you think, gimme suggestions, blah, blah blah, ferrets, blah...  
  
Listening to Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" and living off a steady diet of carbonated water and bishounen, Kichara 


End file.
